(Dobje, 16.5.1841 - Ljubljana, 15.10.1927)
Ivan Franke was a Slovenian painter and conservator. He first became acquainted with art in Ljubljana, where he attended a watercolor course with a Polish artist. Later, he also visited the studios of Jožef Kogovšek and Franz Kurz zum Thurn und Goldenstein, where he first became acquainted with oil painting. After graduating from high school, he studied briefly at the theological seminary in Ljubljana, and in 1863 he was accepted to study painting in Vienna.
He continued to practice painting techniques in Venice, but had to interrupt his journey early due to war conditions. In 1873, the Russian princess Alexandra Vasiljevina Žokovskaya entrusted him with a secret mission and he set off from Venice to China. He was looking for her son, Emperor Alexei, who was allegedly kidnapped by his governess at an early age. Franke saved the child and brought him home safely. He traveled through the countries of the Near and Far East for almost a year, and he also transferred the peculiarities of the New World to his painting. In 1978, he taught drawing in Kranj. Similar to the old Venetian masters, he focused primarily on color.
He painted landscapes, portraits, and religious motifs, which he took from the Venetian late Renaissance masters. His painting shows a respectful attitude towards figures, as he clung to the older Nazarene tradition. During his life, he established himself best as a portraitist, as he satisfied the wishes of his subjects. Regardless, today we appreciate him primarily as a landscape painter, who achieved his vibrant and modern expression in China. Stylistically, he is classified as one of the early realists in Slovenia. Later, he continued in the direction of academic naturalism, and in the late phase, even impressionism.
Most of his landscapes, especially motifs from China, are exhibited in the National Gallery, while his sacred works are mostly found in churches across Slovenia. In addition to painting, he began working as a conservationist in 1880. He worked in Gorenjska and Notranjska. In his free time, he worked as a scriptwriter, makeup artist and costume designer on the Ljubljana Reading Stage. He is also important for Slovenes as the author of regulations that determine the artificial cultivation of trout in Carniola.
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Ivan Franke je bil slovenski slikar in konservator. Z umetnostjo se je prvič spoznal v Ljubljani, kjer je pri Poljaku obiskoval tečaj akvarela. Kasneje je obiskoval tudi atelje Jožefa Kogovška in Franza Kurza zum Thurna und Goldensteina, kjer se je prvič seznanil z oljnim slikarstvom. Po končani gimnaziji je kratek čas študiral v bogoslovnem semenišču v Ljubljani, že leta 1863 pa so ga sprejeli na študij slikarstva na Dunaj.
Slikarsko tehniko je uril še v Benetkah a moral zaradi vojnih razmer s potjo predčasno prekiniti. Leta 1873 mu je ruska kneginja Aleksandra Vasiljevina Žokovska zaupala tajno nalogo in se je iz Benetk odpravil na Kitajsko. Iskal je namreč njenega sina, cesarja Alekseja, ki naj bi ga že v rani mladosti ugrabila njegova guvernanta. Franke je otroka rešil in ga varno pripeljal domov. Po deželah bližnjega in daljnega vzhoda je potoval skoraj leto dni, nenavadnosti novega sveta pa je prenesel tudi v slikarstvo. Leta 1978 je poučeval risanje v Kranju. Podobno kakor pri starih beneških mojstrih, je poudarek namenil predvsem barvi.
Slikal je krajine, portrete in religiozne motive, ki jih je povzel po beneških poznorenesančnih mojstrih. V njegovem slikarstvu je viden spoštljiv odnos do figur, saj se je oklenil starejše nazarenske tradicije. Tekom svojega življenja se je najbolje uveljavil kot portretist, saj je ugodil željam portretirancev. Ne glede na to, ga danes cenimo predvsem kot krajinarja, ki je svoj razgiban in sodoben izraz dosegel na Kitajskem. Slogovno ga uvrščamo med zgodnje realiste na Slovenskem. Kasneje je nadaljeval v smer proti akademskemu naturalizmu, v pozni fazi pa še k impresionizmu.
Največ njegovih krajin, predvsem motivov s Kitajske, je razstavljenih v Narodni Galeriji, med tem ko sakralna dela večinoma najdemo v cerkvah po Sloveniji. Poleg slikanja se je leta 1880 pričel ukvarjati s konservatorstvom. Deloval je na Gorenjskem in Notranjskem. V prostem času je deloval kot scenarist, masker in kostumograf na ljubljanskem čitalniškem odru. Za slovenstvo je pomemben tudi kot avtor predpisov, ki določajo umetno gojenje postrvi na Kranjskem.
Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.
The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history
SOURCES/VIRI:
Miran Lola BOŽIČ, Franke, Ivan (1841-1927), Obrazi slovenskih pokrajin, Kranj 2020, https://www.obrazislovenskihpokrajin.si/oseba/franke-ivan/ (15.12.2024).
Lovro KASTELIC, Slovenski slikar rešil vnuka ruskega carja, Slovenske novice, 6.10.2020.
Boštjan SOKLIČ, Slikar in ribič Ivan Franke, Loški muzej, 7.4.2021, https://www.loski-muzej.si/novice/slikar-in-ribic-ivan-franke/ (23.12.2024).
Stanko VURNIK, Spomini na Ivana Franketa, Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, III., 1923, pp. 32-43.
Marijan ZADNIKAR, s. v. Frankè Ivan, Enciklopedija Likovnih Umjetnosti, 2, Zagreb 1962, pp. 323.
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